Understanding Human Evolution

By: Ian Tattersall

Narrated by: Michael Page

Human life, and how we came to be, is one of the greatest scientific and philosophical questions of our time. This compact and accessible book presents a modern view of human evolution. Written by a leading authority, it lucidly and engagingly explains not only the evolutionary process, but the technologies currently used to unravel the evolutionary past and emergence of Homo sapiens. By separating the history of palaeoanthropology from current interpretation of the human fossil record, it lays numerous misconceptions to rest, and demonstrates that human evolution has been far from the linear struggle from primitiveness to perfection that we've been led to believe. It also presents a coherent scenario for how Homo sapiens contrived to cross a formidable cognitive barrier to become an extraordinary and unprecedented thinking creature. Understanding Human Evolution is for anyone interested in the complex and tangled story of how we came to be.

©2022 Ian Tattersall (P)2024 Tantor

Human species

Excellent narration. Very well combinations of the timingly geographical positions, macro-micro meteorology, sociology, art and craft. The use of radiation and geophysics plus astrophysics.

Excellent with some caveats

Excellent presentation of the history of human evolution and how we uncovered it. only Caveat is that it is very science heavy at times, which I understand and it is to be expected, however it can be a bit much for a general audience. I also feel that it skips around a bit and there were many moments where I wished the author would spend more time on a topic. This can make the book feel quite rushed. If you can make it to the third chapter, you will be richly rewarded with a ton of great information.